Façade
(A Heroes fanfiction, for Ros, by Lissi)
"Kimiko?" Hiro knocked on his sister's bedroom door. There was no reply. Her friend Yayoi was sleeping over, but they'd been told not to stay up too late. He knocked again, and when there was still no answer, pushed the door open a crack. "Kimiko, you have to get up. It's breakfast time."
The room was dark, lit only by the light from the landing. Hiro frowned at the shadows. There was an unmoving lump under Kimiko's bedcovers, but the spare bed made up on the floor was empty. He opened the door a little further and the shaft of light fell across Kimiko's pillow, illuminating two dark heads. Hiro gasped, his eyes widening.
Eyes opened and blinked sleepily under tousled dark hair. Kimiko sat bolt upright, belatedly grabbing at the blankets to preserve her modesty. "Shit, Hiro! Shut the door!"
He stepped inside and shut it behind him, eyes as wide as dinner plates, as if that would help him see the meaning of the scene before him. His older sister sighed. "I meant with you on the other side… never mind." She frowned, pulling the covers up to her pale neck. "Don't tell anyone about this."
Hiro blinked. The words that eventually found their way out of his mouth were not the ones he'd intended to say. "It's breakfast time."
Kimiko sighed again. "Alright. Tell Father we're coming." She touched the shoulder of the body next to her and Yayoi sat up, yawning. She saw Hiro and opened her mouth to speak, looking worried. Kimiko broke in, "It's alright." She brushed a strand of hair off Yayoi's face, smiling in reassurance, then turned back to her brother. "Like I said – we'll be down soon."
Still too shocked to speak, Hiro nodded. Kimiko smiled faintly as she added, "And thank you."
When the girls came down to breakfast, Hiro and Kimiko exchanged a secret glance. As she sat down, Hiro wondered how she could look so calm and unruffled, so innocent. Then he saw her briefly stroke Yayoi's thigh under the table, smiling at their father above it, and realised it was just a cleverly constructed façade, the same slightly superior, irreproachable expression she usually wore, and he wondered. How long had she been hiding this, and was there more he didn't know about? One thing was sure – he would never look at his sister in quite the same way again.
Two things. Ando was going to be devastated.